Tootsie Caramel Apple Pops

About 15 years ago Tootsie introduced a new lollipop. Like many of Tootsie popular lollipops it was a combination of two already famous candies. In this case the Tootsie Caramel Apple Pops combined a hard candy with caramel. It was a base of green apple flavored hard candy covered with a hard caramel (think Sugar Daddy).

Since they candy is meant to mimic a caramel covered apple, it only makes sense that other varieties of apples get their day in the sun. Last year Tootsie introduced their Assorted Apple Orchard Caramel Apple Pops. The bag has a variety: Green Apple, Golden Delicious and Red Macintosh.

I admit that I’ve had these before, well, I’ve had Green Apple pops in my possession before. I used to do product photography, so I’d get large quantities of candy to take pictures of and then I’d get to keep it. I had huge box of these and never actually ate one myself. They’re messy, the packaging doesn’t really highlight them well either. Worse, I saw them being made on TV (I think it was Unwrapped, but can’t find a mention of it on the Food Network website) and they look radically different when purchased than when they roll off the production line.

They’re puckered and irregular and often little bits of caramel poke out of the bottom of the wrapper. But I actually like Sugar Daddy and regular Tootsie Pops, so I should give these a fair shake.

The pops start with a hard candy disk, in this case flavored like green apple. Then the pop gets a coating of hard caramel and then a wrapper. During shipping and storage there’s some sort of glaciation that takes place and the pop flattens and takes on the shape of the wrapper. The hard candy gets marbled with the caramel.

The hard caramel is smooth and sweet with a light toasted sugar flavor with a hint of milk. The green apple candy is slick, without the painfully sharp edged voids of Tootsie Pops and Blow Pops. They’re not as intensely flavored as Jolly Ranchers, just a tart apple flavor. They’re comforting and mellow.

My main complaint is the width of the pop, it’s a little too wide for my mouth. The edges tend to be irregular, kind of rippled from the wrapper, this is uncomfortable when sucking on the pops after a while. The whole pop will eventually be soft and pliable and of course stick to the roof of my mouth if I’m not careful (I’m sure those impressions are like fingerprints).

The Golden Delicious variety comes in a mustard yellow wrapper. In the real fruit world, golden delicious are not on my list of favorite apples - I find them too sweet and often mealy. In the case of the candy version of the golden delicious, neither of those qualities was an issue. The scent of this pop was actually very apple like, it reminded me of peeling apples.

The apple flavor is muted and sweet and doesn’t quite stand up to the caramel as well. It’s almost like applesauce or apple pie a la mode (with caramel sauce).

I was glad that Tootsie didn’t go with red delicious on this one, instead it’s Red Macintosh which is a much more flavorful apple. The pop in this case is kind of in the middle of the flavor profile gamut - it’s not as intense or fake tasting as the Green Apple, but a little bolder than the Golden Delicious. The flavor of the red candy part was like an apple cider - notes of the apple peel and juice but still on the sweet side.

Getting over the messy look of these is a bit difficult, but the candy inside definitely has merits. I don’t see buying them for myself again but I love the idea and think that Tootsie did a great job of making the flavors distinctive enough. The pops are only 60 calories. The combination of textures and flavors makes these a good treat for those watching their calories.

I actually like these a lot! After reading your review I kind of got obsessed with finding them and ended up discovering them at Walgreens after looking everywhere in town. The golden delicious are my favorites!

I love these. I just bought two bags at Walgreen’s on sale at 2/$7.00.
And they told me that local schools bought up a batch to resell at their school candy counters—at 50 cents each.
Lucky me, I’ve got enough to last until next fall…I hope.

I LOVE THESE! I’m not even a huge lollipop fan, but I have always searched for these during Autumn. My mom was the first to introduce them to me, and since then my whole family loves these and See’s Candy pops during the cold wintery months.

For a short while, there were also some hot chocolate ones. The base was a tootsie roll-chocolately covered in a marshmallow coating with the same consistency of the caramel. It was okay. I wonder what happened to those?

I love all these flavors! I first bought the sour apple years ago in a drugstore and then I never saw them again. I had to order them this year from Amazon and then someone brought the other flavors to a party. Next year I will buy the new flavors too!

I’m actually writing because we been buying these pops for years my whole family love them. Just the other day my eleven year old daughter was eating one and she all of a sudden came running into the room screaming crying because the carmel pop was stuck to her tooth. I tryed to get it off , n it was huting her very much, after us stuggling to get it off we finally did and her tooth came off with it. I can’t find any other way of reaching the company if someone can please contact me i would appriciate it thank youy for your ti e and I am looking forward to hearing from you .

Has anyone seen the Apple Orchard assortment in stores this year? I have seen Caramel Apple Pops bags at Target and Safeway, but so far no Apple Orchard bags. I’d rather buy them locally than have to pay for shipping. Any suggestions as to where I should look would be apppreciated. We really want to try the other flavors!

I also am on the hunt for the Apple Orchard Pops this year. I saw them for the first time fall of 2010 at Walgreens but could not find them anywhere else. This year they do not have them at Walgreens either.

I also had a problem with the caramel getting stuck to my teeth. I even chipped a bottom tooth on one but I love them so much I’m willing to take the risk!

Mo & Andrea - I saw the Orchard bags at Rite Aid over the weekend. They were on sale, but they had very few of them. Hopefully you have a store nearby that’s stocking them. (I also checked Target, KMart, Walgreen’s & CVS, none of the stores in my area had them in stock, though some have the green apple version.)

target sells the green ones for 2/$5 $2.69 each if not on sale. rite aid sells the mixed bag which is larger in size for $4. i think the red and green taste alike, i think yellow is probably the least favorite flavor and green the most popular which is why they sell them primarily. if you order them from tootsie.com they only offer the green ones.

Caution: Carmel Apple Pops broke my tooth when I tried to pry it off the roof of my mouth. Someday a child will choke on these because they stick to the roof of the mouth and could affect breathing . Mark my words.

Looking for the mixed Orchard bag offline and can’t find. Bought the green apple flavor around Halloween at CVS but a few weeks later they’re not carrying it anymore. All I know is that they are the best lollipop that me and my wife have ever had. Anybody know what store chain has them? Rating: 9/10
PS) we tried Walmart with no luck.

Candyology 101 - Episode 35 - Whatchamacallit
In the latest Candyology 101 podcast, Maria and I tackled a little-celebrated candy bar, the Whatchamacallit. We’re also trying out a new format, which is a little shorter, like a handful of fun size candy bars! (more)

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

All content (text and photos unless otherwise credited) is copyright 2005-2016 by Cybele May

Please do not use my photos without prior permission directly from me, they represent what I ate in preparation for these reviews and are not to be used for other purposes.